Jimmy Creten (born July 10th, 1967) (sometimes labeled as Jim Creten on Monster Jam episodes) is a monster truck owner and driver out of Tonganoxie, Kansas. He is best known as the owner and driver of Bounty Hunter and founder of 2Xtreme Racing. He is also the promoter of the 2Xtreme Monster Truck Series.
Career[]
Creten began by driving trucks for other teams such as Plum Nuts and Shark Attack, the latter would become the first Bounty Hunter in 1996.
In 2000, Jimmy and his wife Dawn began competing with Monster Jam, that Creten would get his first taste of true success. That year he made his first televised appearance in Pontiac. Despite finishing 2nd in freestyle, his freestyle was cut from broadcast for unknown reasons.
In 2001, Jimmy occasionally drove Scarlet Bandit when Dawn was pregnant & at home with the kids. Bounty Hunter was driven by Jay McPherson.
In 2002, Creten's team won the "USHRA Team of the Year". He made his first World Finals appearance & finished runner up to Tom Meents in Team Meents.
In 2005, Jimmy won the World Finals freestyle championship in a tiebreaker between him and the late Tony Farrell.
In 2006, Jimmy entered the season as the world freestyle champion and 2Xtreme Racing won team of the year again.
In 2009, Jimmy went undefeated in the stadium shows throughout the season, picking up racing victories in Houston, Minneapolis, New Orleans and El Paso as well as a double down in Phoenix. He would also finish second in both qualifying and freestyle at World Finals X.
In 2011, Creten began performing exhibition backflips mainly in Iron Outlaw, most notably in Tijuana, Mexico.
In 2015, Jimmy celebrates Bounty Hunter's 20th Anniversary.
In 2018, Jimmy debuted a new chassis, which he still runs today.
In 2019, after 5 appearances in the World Finals championship race, Jimmy would finally win a racing championship, making him a 2-time World Finals champion, tying him with Jim Koehler with the most amount of champions won by a self-independent driver. However, it wouldn't come without controversy, as Bari Musawwir driving Zombie Fire red lighted and would cross the line first over Creten. Bari had already red lighted earlier. Bari disagreed with the call. Even with the win, Jimmy never crossed the finish line first.
Departure from Monster Jam[]
2020 would be his team's last year in Monster Jam. Jim started his own tour & competes on it now. Jimmy has four trucks and has had several ventures including a Chris Kyle tribute truck & a partnership with Five Finger Death Punch to create the Knucklehead (which later became Jekyll & Hyde). The team debuts a new truck, Brutal. The newest truck on the team, as of October 2024 is Roarin' Rex.
In 2024, Rob Poutre drove the truck as Jimmy Creten recovers from surgery. He would return to driving later in the year. Kory Kinal also starts driving the truck at certain events.
World Finals championship race attempts[]
Creten holds the record for the most losses in the championship race at the World Finals, before he would eventually win a racing championship.
- 2002: lost to Tom Meents in Team Meents
- 2003: lost to Brian Barthel in Wolverine
- 2006: lost to Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger
- 2008: lost to John Seasock in Batman
- 2011: lost to Tom Meents again, this time in Maximum Destruction
- 2019: defeated Bari Musawwir in Zombie Fire
World Finals appearances[]
- 2002: Bounty Hunter
- 2003: Bounty Hunter
- 2004: Bounty Hunter
- 2005: Bounty Hunter (won freestyle against Tony Farrell in a tiebreaker)
- 2006: Bounty Hunter
- 2007: Bounty Hunter
- 2008: Bounty Hunter
- 2009: Bounty Hunter
- 2010: Bounty Hunter
- 2011: Bounty Hunter
- 2012: Bounty Hunter
- 2013: Bounty Hunter (didn't freestyle due to a blown engine in racing)
- 2014: Bounty Hunter
- 2015: Bounty Hunter
- 2016: Bounty Hunter
- 2017: Bounty Hunter
- 2018: Bounty Hunter
- 2019: Bounty Hunter (won racing)
Trivia[]
- Jimmy was born on the exact same day as Tom Meents.
- One year in Anaheim, he started his freestyle with a backflip, which is extremely rare. It is risky, but he landed it.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20111202064849/http://www.monsterjam.com/Bios/Drivers/Jimmy_Creten/
Gallery[]
